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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling, was published in 1999 worldwide. It has sold 30 million copies, translated into many different languages, and won several awards. J.K. Rowling’s name has become widely known due to the success and popularity of the Harry Potter series. Published in 1999, the third installment of Harry’s adventure started exploring darker themes as the-boy-who-lived grows from a boy into an adolescent. While the series is categorized as children’s books, they also strongly appeal to adults. The darker tones in Prisoner of Azkaban show the struggles that people encounter in life as well as how they can mature from it. The themes of good vs. evil, paranoia, murder, and right vs. wrong challenge both the child and adult mind. Prisoner of Azkaban is the first in the series to introduce more complexity into the story and paves the way for the following books to address darker themes.

Prisoner of Azkaban begins during the summer before Harry’s third year at Hogwarts in the home of his neglectful Muggle relatives. Harry is forced to act “normal” in front of his uncle’s sister, who comes to visit the family. Throughout the week that she stays at the Dursleys, she attempts to get a rise out of Harry and she succeeds on her last night after bad-mouthing his parents, but she ends up magically ballooning out after she angers Harry. Harry runs out of the Dursleys and encounters a larger black dog that causes him to fall and accidently call the Knight Bus. On the Knight Bus, Harry finds out that Sirius Black, a fugitive who appeared on the Muggle news, is an insane wizard who killed thirteen Muggles with a single curse. After staying the rest of his summer holiday at Diagon Alley, Harry meets his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and heads to school on the Hogwarts Express. On the train, he encounters Dementors, dark figures who guard Azkaban, the magical prison that Black escaped from. The Dementors become a solid presence at Hogwarts and Hogsmeade as they search from Black, who is believed to be after Harry.

As the year passes, Harry gets more protection around him, but becomes paranoid after seeing multiple symbols of the Grim around him. Harry sneaks into Hogsmeade with the help of the Marauder’s Map, where he and his friends overhear that Black was the reason why Lily and James Potter are died. Harry becomes more angry and determined to face his fears, both in protecting himself from the Dementors and meeting Black. However, it all comes to halt when Black, as a dog, drags Ron into the Whomping Willow, and Harry and Hermione follow. While confronting Black, Harry finds out that Black is quite sane and did not betray the Potters, but Peter Pettigrew, who was believed to be died, was the traitor. After everything is revealed, Pettigrew, who hid as a rat for thirteen years, ends up escaping and Sirius gets caught. To save Sirius, Harry and Hermione travel back in time to help Sirius escape. The book ends at the Hogwarts Express with Harry receiving a letter from Sirius.

Although some might say that Prisoner of Azkaban deals with themes and ideas that go beyond a child’s mind, it challenges the inner adult in children. The book does deal with many dark themes, but it does not sugar coat the struggles that Harry has to deal with. Prisoner of Azkaban shows Harry changing from a boy to an adolescent. Harry starts learning more about fears and how to face them. In chapter twelve, “The Patronus,” Harry is taught by Professor Lupin how to defend himself against the Boggart-Dementor, he becomes more determine and learns more about himself. Dementors are one of the major presentations of darkness in the book. “They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them” (Rowling 187). Rowling said in many interviews that Dementors were created from her own struggles with depression. They manifest all the dark aspects of life and suck all the happiness away, which could intimidate children. However, Harry’s determination to protect himself from the Dementors show that children can also prevail over complex issues. Maureen Katz notes in her article that, “during what would be a fatal attack by the dementors, [Harry] holds one of his selves apart from the scene and conjures up a symbolic representation of his father, the ‘patronus,’ from the happiest memory he can imagine, fighting the Dementors and chasing them away.” The book also shows that adults trying to shelter children from the truth would not help them in the end. Throughout the book, the adults around Harry try to keep him from finding the truth about Black. Yet, Harry overhears the Weasleys and his professors talking about Black, and Lupin does not mention Black until Harry confronts him about it. Children are inquisitive and will find out about problems if they are determine enough, just as Harry did. Although the themes become darker in Prisoner of Azkaban, Rowling shows that sugar coating the truth and darkness of the life from children would only limit the inner adult inside of them.

Alfonso Cuarón became the director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban after Chris Columbus, the director of the previous Harry Potter films left. Released in the summer of 2004, Prisoner of Azkaban was very successful even though it is the lowest-grossing Harry Potter film in the series. While it is not as faithful as the previous two films were to the book series, Cuarón’s Prisoner of Azkaban adapts the darker tones of Rowling’s series well. There are dark, gloomy lighting and tones throughout the film that only get brighter by the cheeky language and few bright-colored props. Cara Lane notes in her review that “In the Prisoner of Azkaban Hogwarts becomes a shadow of its former self; the light, color, and warmth disappear.” As Harry grows throughout the film, he learns that Hogwarts may not be as a bright and safe place as he assumed it was. Cuarón shows that life at Hogwarts is not as accessible as it was believed to be.

Prisoner of Azkaban is filled with many dark tones and artistic visuals that overlap each other. Cuarón focuses his adaptation on the darker aspects of the book, such as the Dementors. His presentation of Dementors is both simple in presentation and complex in mind. The CGI figures appear as tall, dark, hooded figures who float and create icy surfaces. Their complexity lays with what they invoke, the fear from people. Every time Harry interacts with the Dementors in the film and the book, they pull out all his happiness and leave his fears, mainly, hearing his parents’ last words. Cuarón gives a visual presentation of one of the frightening creatures in the Harry Potter world. His darker tones push the boundaries that the previous two films do not have. He shows that there is not just light in the world and that darkness does exist in different forms in life.

While Cuarón does change several parts of the book to adapt his darker themes, the film does incorporate some of the story line well. The book series do become darker in Prisoner of Azkaban, which Cuarón adapts into his version. As the book challenges the minds of both children and adults, so does the film. Josh Larsen writes in his article that the film “allow adults to feel the elation of youth while giving youngsters a taste of the burdens that come with being an adult.” The film incorporates the challenges that Rowling addresses in her book well by darkening its tone. Cuarón’s Prisoner of Azkaban does push more towards the darker themes than the book does. In the film, if it not raining, then it is an overcast sky, but in the book, there are glimpses of sunshine. The darker palate of the film does show the expression that Cuarón got from the book. Prisoner of Azkaban is a time of change for Harry in both the film and the book. Harry learns more about his family’s past with Voldemort as well as how his future will be. One of the scenes that do remain faithful to Rowling’s story is the confrontation in the Shrieking Shack. Even though Cuarón omits a couple of minor parts that the book has in that scene, he keeps the important aspects of it without going overboard. The film uses the challenges in the book to visually represent the literary work in darker themes that appeal to both adults and children.

Although the film does not change much of the main story line from the book, it is not too faithful to the whole magical culture the Rowling incorporates in the book and the original text. More often than not, Cuarón chooses his darker tones over parts of the books. The scenes that Cuarón takes from the book have some form of gloom or darkness embedded in them. The scenes that he cuts from the film have some of the brighter and unique magic culture in them. He does not show the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione going to King’s Cross and the reactions from Muggles about Hedwig or the adults’ robes. Hagrid and Buckbeak’s story is a minor plotline in the film whereas the book shows the trio’s dedication to help Hagrid with Buckbeak’s trial. Another aspect that gets minimized is Quidditch, which is a large part of the magic culture in the books. Rowling often dedicates chapters to describe the game. In the book, Harry is a talented Quidditch player, and the games as well as his broomstick are extremely important to him. Harry becomes furious with Hermione after she tells Professor McGonagall about his new Firebolt and McGonagall confiscates it. However, Cuarón dedicates his one Quidditch scene to the Dementors attacking Harry. Cuarón does not show Harry receiving the Firebolt until the very end of the film, completely omitting the conflict between Harry and Hermione. The film shows that Cuarón was more focused on the darkest aspects of Prisoner of Azkaban, yet he was able to show a few of the important scenes of the book well.

Maayan Rosen

July 12, 2015

Word Count: 1,715

Word Cited

Cara Lane. “The Prisoner of Azkaban: A New Direction for Harry Potter.” Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 35.1 (2005): 65-67.

Maureen Katz. “Prisoners of Azkaban: Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma Due to War and State Terror (With Help from Harry Potter).” Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society 8.2 (2003): 200-207.

Alan Moore’s Watchmen is a graphic novel, which was first published by DC comics in 1986. The story follows a group of ex-vigilantes who were popular in the 1940s, but were banned by the 80s after riot broke out. The assigned reading showed the opening of the graphic novel and introduces several of the main characters of the story. Some of the themes in the graphic novel are good vs. evil, people vs. government, heroism, and violence.

Analysis of the Film

The 2009 film adaptation, Watchmen, was directed by Zach Snyder. With only a few minor changes that some of the critics note, the film is loyal to Moore’s graphic novel. It has a dark and violent tone throughout the film. A few of the film’s themes are violence, good vs. evil, and heroism.

Analysis of the Adaptation

While the film adaptation remains very faithful to the graphic novel, there are some problems that appear in the film. The film has many violent scenes compared to the graphic novel. One of the major problems in the film is that there is so much story and no breathing room to think everything over before the next scene comes. The film deeply aims to please Watchmen’s fan base and only changes a few parts of Moore’s graphic novel.

Scott Thill praises Snyder on overcoming the pressure and successfully adapting Watchmen into a film. The film adaptation stay very loyal to the graphic novel and its language. While there are some changes and alteration in the film, it mostly remains faithful to Moore’s graphic novel.

Critical Argument Paragraph

After viewing the “unfilmable” films in our class (Tristram Shandy, Adaptation, A Scanner Darkly, Watchmen), which do you think is the most unfilmable? Why?

After watching several films, the most unfilmable film would be Adaptation because it goes beyond the literary work that it adapted. In the film, Kaufman inserts himself just to show that The Orchid Thief is unfilmable. The film itself confirms that The Orchid Thief is unfilmable because of its narrative. Even though Kaufman tries to stay faithful to the novel, there is more of his story in the film than Orlean’s The Orchid Thief. Although it is a unique way to adapt a film, the literary work almost becomes a side-story as the film’s Kaufman attempts to write the screenplay for the adaptation.

Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox is a children’s story about a clever fox stealing food for his family from three mean farmers living near the woods. The assigned readings give an introduction to the three farmers, Boggis, Bunce, and Bean as well as Mr. and Mrs. Fox. It shows the beginning of the feud between Mr. Fox and the three farmers. A couple of the book’s themes are cheekiness and rebellion.

Analysis of the Film

Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox is a stop-motion animated adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s book. While it is based on Dahl’s book, it is not a faithful adaptation. Anderson adds more the Dahl’s story and introduces new characters. A few of the film’s themes are comedy, rebellion, and animal nature.

Analysis of the Adaptation

Though Wes Anderson’s film adaptation is based on Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, it is more faithful in spirit than presentation. Anderson adds more story and characters to the short children’s story to make the film longer. In the book, the story ends with Mr. Fox and his family trapped under the farmers. On the other hand, the film expands the story by showing Mr. Fox confronting the farmers to get his kidnapped nephew back. The film also focuses more on the father-son relationship between Mr. Fox and Ash.

Lee Weston Sabo analyses Wes Anderson’s attempt to appeal to the children’s inner adult by not giving a watered down narrative that many children films have. Sabo goes on to talk about the animation flaws in the film, but he finds it appealing overall. Even though it is categorized as a children’s film, there is an appeal to the adult by showing the anxieties of life.

Critical Argument Paragraph

While both Fantastic Mr. Fox and Prisoner of Azkaban films are based on children’s books, they have both similar and different ways to appeal to children. The two films do not water down the narrative and show some of the struggles of life. However, they have different approaches to tell the story. In Prisoner of Azkaban, Cuaron gives a darker perspective of the Harry Potter world, but he brings some color with a little cheeky narrative. Cuaron’s Harry Potter appeal to children by showing that everyone struggles and matures from it. In Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson appeals to children by not hiding issues between animals and people. Animals steal to survive and people do try to kill them to stop. The films use the narrative to open the minds of children unlike other children films that simplify the narrative.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling is the third book in the Harry Potter series and focuses on Harry’s third year at Hogwarts. The summer before Harry’s third year, Sirius Black escapes the magical prison, Azkaban, and many believe that he is after Harry. Throughout Harry’s third year at Hogwarts, Harry learns more about his parents’ past with Voldemort and Sirius Black. A few of the book’s themes are magic, good vs. evil, and misconception.

Analysis of the Film

The film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban directed by Alfonso Cuarón closely follows the book it was based on. Cuarón gives the film a more artistic and darker perspective that the previous two Harry Potter films do not have. He changes the dialogue and cuts some of the plot from the book out, but he manages to bring the entire story together. Some of its themes are fantasy, magic, time-travel, and good vs. evil.

Analysis of the Adaptation

While the film captures most of the story in the Prisoner of Azkaban novel, it does cut some parts of the book to bring out more of the darker tones. One of the things that Harry struggles with throughout the novel is hearing his parents’ final words and their connection to Sirius Black. Even though it is implied in the film, there is no deeper explanation other than he was their friend and he betrayed them. Cuarón takes the darker themes of the novel and uses them to darken the Harry Potter world. There are several minor scenes in the film that are not in the novel, but give the Harry Potter world more perspective.

This interview with Alfonso Cuarón shows how Cuarón took the Harry Potter world, which was already established in film, and gave it his own twists. Cuarón also talks about his experience with the producers and actors while filming Prisoner of Azkaban.

In this review of Prisoner of Azkaban, the writer addresses Alfonso’s darker perspective on the Harry Potter films and the visual effects that it has. Even though the film has a darker tone than the two previous Harry Potter films, there are pops of bright colors to ease the tone. There is more cheekiness with the use of props, portrayals, and background effects. While the film is less faithful to the Harry Potter series as the previous two films were, it brings new themes that Prisoner of Azkaban addressed.

Critical Argument Paragraph

There have been many mixed reviews about Alfonso Cuarón’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. While some critics dub it the best Potter film, others argue that it is the worst. Prisoner of Azkaban does have one of the best scenes in the film series, but naming it either the best or worst film in the series is questionable. One of the best scenes in the book series is the confrontation in the Shrieking Shack. It reveals more about the Potters’ history and who truly betrayed them. Cuarón’s version of the confrontation is just as good as the Rowling’s version. It is one of the few scenes in the film that stays faithful to the book’s scene. Calling the film the best of the series is a bit too much because there are films in the series that are more faithful to the book and have their own tone. On the other hand, calling it the worst is also too much because there are other films, such as Half Blood Prince, that turn the major story of the book into a very minor aspect of the film, which does not happen in Prisoner of Azkaban. While Prisoner of Azkaban might not be the best of the films series, it is definitely not the worst.

Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly is a science fiction novel about an undercover agent, Bob Arctor, who becomes addicted to a psychoactive drug after he was assigned to spy on his roommates. After several psychological tests on Arctor are done, it is revealed that Arctor’s addiction overtook his ability to job as an undercover agent. The book is based on Dick’s own experiences with drug use during the 1970s. Several of the book’s themes are darkness, dystopia, religion, and drug abuse.

Analysis of the Film

In terms of storyline, the film version of A Scanner Darkly directed by Richard Linklater is similar to Philip K. Dick’s novel. Using a scramble suit, agents are able to cover their identity as they investigate drug use in California. The animation of the film helps the film adapt into a fantasy world, which remains the viewer that the film is not real.

Analysis of the Adaptation

The film version of A Scanner Darkly is a good adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel; however, one of the parts that get lost between the book and the film adaptation is the theme of religion. Even though most of the novel’s themes are adapted into Linklater’s film, the novel’s religious theme is not reflected in the film. The novel’s religious theme is a reflection on Philip K. Dick’s own mystical experiences after taking drugs. The closest the film gets to a mystical experience is at the end when Arctor imagines the blue flowers in the field. Also, Linklater’s rotoscoping reflects view into how Substance D would affect the user’s vision by the film’s disorienting background.

This article compares A Scanner Darkly to other Linklater’s films and the treatment of time throughout the film. The central focus is on Donna’s character and her relationship with Arctor. The writer makes a point when he says that even though Donna surrounds herself around drug situations, never once does the viewer see her take any drugs. Linklater wastes no time as he pushes Donna and Arctor’s relationship forward. He shows that even though Donna manipulates Arctor into taking the drugs, Arctor does not realize it because he had already fallen for her.

Critical Argument Paragraph

Richard Linklater’s choice of using “interpolated rotoscoping” enhances both the storyline and the viewer’s experience. Rotoscoping the entire film brings out more visual effects that might not appear in a live-action film. The opening scene with the bugs crawling all over the apartment and Freck might frighten viewers if it was a live-action film. Since the film uses rotoscoping, the scene becomes more bearable because the animation reinforces that the scene is not real. The viewer’s experience is enhanced by the “interpolated rotoscoping” because it visually twists the viewer’s vision and show how it might feel like being on Substance D. The “interpolated rotoscoping” was the appropriate technique to show the storyline and give the viewers a unique experience.

No Country for Old Men is a western thriller by Corman McCarthy about a man who finds two million dollars after walking into the aftermath for a drug deal gone wrong. The story follows three men, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, Llewelyn Moss, and Anton Chigurh, and how their lives intertwine as a result of the bad drug deal. As Sheriff Bell investigates the area of the drug deal and its results, Llewelyn runs towards Mexico to escape Anton Chigurh, a hitman who was hired to retrieve the money. Several of the novel’s themes are choices, self-determination, violence, and fate.

Analysis of the Film

Co-directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men shows the story of how Llewelyn Moss found two million dollars after a drug deal went awry. Llewelyn takes the money and attempts to escape the hitman, Anton Chigurh, who was hired by the Mexicans dealers that the money belonged to. Llewelyn sends his wife away and runs with the money. After a few encounters with Anton, Llewelyn ends up in a hotel between the border of Texas and Mexico. A few of the themes of the film are greed, self-determination, and density.

Analysis of the Adaptation

The film, No Country for Old Men is extremely faithful to the McCarthy novel in terms on storyline. Although it is hard to find differences in a film that thoroughly commits to the novel, there are a couple aspects that are missing from the film. One part that is missing from the film is the story’s pacing. Another part that is film cuts down on is Sheriff Bell’s character. In the novel, Sheriff Bell is seen as one of the main protagonists of the story. However, in the film Sheriff Bell is seen as a minor character until Llewelyn turns up died.

In this article, Thierry Jutel addresses how cinematic narration and mental imagery is shown in No Country for Old Men. Jutel argues that the film turns into a new “visual regime of cinema” by how it transforms the viewer into an active participant. He goes on to explain the film’s slow pace as a form of knowledge to the characters in their situation.

Critical Argument Paragraph

The film version of No Country for Old Men takes on a different form of a Western thriller. In a way, the film is a revisionist Western because it takes the liberty of changing classic Western style aspects. There is no climatic shoot-out or confrontation between the film’s protagonist and antagonist. There does not seem to be a clear good and bad guy in the film as well. While Llewelyn and Anton do have several shoot-outs between each other, there never comes a point when they are face to face. Llewelyn getting killed off-screen by the Mexican dealers takes away some of the Old Western values. In Old Western films, there is usually a clear indication of “good guy vs. bad guy,” however, No Country for Old Men seems to refrain itself from giving its characters those types of roles. Even though Anton is clearly the antagonist or the “bad guy,” Llewelyn is not necessarily the hero/”good guy.” Llewelyn tries to save his wife from Anton, but he also chose to take the money and run. No Country for Old Men does take the liberty of changing the classic Western film form, but it is still able to maintain the overall aspect of a Western film.

Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor is a comic book series based on Pekar’s life in Cleveland, Ohio. While most comic books are aimed towards a younger audience, American Splendor intended audience are adults. One of the major themes of the comics is realism, driving from Pekar’s own life experiences in Cleveland. It is the story lines of the everyday life that separates American Splendor from other comic book series.

Analysis of the Film

The film version, American Splendor, was co-directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, dramatizes the life of Harvey Pekar both in the comics and real life. One of the unique aspects of the film is the decision to use the real Harvey Pekar in the film as well as Paul Giamatti playing Harvey Pekar. The multiple versions of Pekar (himself, the actor, and comic book version) show how Berman and Pulcini used the “film-within-a-film” aspect in the film. Similar to the comic’s theme, realism also stands out in the film by the use of the multiple versions of Pekar. The film follows how Pekar became a comics writer and the struggles he endured throughout his life.

Analysis of the Adaptation

The concept of realism used in the film version of American Splendor shows how Berman and Pulcini remained faithful to the comic book series. The mix of reality (the real Harvey Pekar and the actor playing him) and animation (the comic book versions of Pekar) presents how the directors used realism throughout the film. The directors stayed faithful to the comic book series by basing the movie on Pekar’s life experiences, but also showing the behind-the-scenes experiences that Pekar had during filming.

In this article, the writer addresses the treatment of postmodernism and trauma throughout the film. The film shows how unique life can be as well as how painful it can become. The writer argues that Berman and Pulcini’s adaptation of American Splendor challenges the representation of life experiences, but still tried to remain faithful to the comic’s representation of life. It was their attempt on documenting real life experience by using the real Harvey Pekar and an actor portraying him.

Critical Argument Paragraph

While American Splendor is based off a comic book series, and making the film completely animated might have been easier, the fact that it is mixed between real life and animation makes a unique adaptation. If the film was only animated, the directors and producers could have only used Harvey Pekar to voice the character, but the film would lose some of the sense of realism that is found in the comic books. Similar to the comic book series, the film uses Pekar’s life experience whether good or bad they may seem. Not only does the film present how Pekar became a comic book writer, it shows Pekar’s response to the idea of having a film about him. The film plays on the themes of the comic book series by making it a mix of real life and animated experiences. If the film was entirely animated, it would have lost the behind-the-scene perspective that shows the real Harvey Pekar’s experience throughout the film. It is the mix of real life and animation that makes the film unique and better portray the themes of the comic book series.